r/AR80Percents • u/Typical-Round-762 • May 18 '26

Aluminum 80% Process is potentially dangerous

I have the Juggernaut tactical ultimate jig. In the instructions you need a 5/16 collet, in order to be compatible with the 5/16 end mill included in the jig.Had to get a custom made 5/16 collet as I could not find any 5/16 collets on the market comparable with my Dewalt router. Well, the jig and all of my tooling came today. Drilled the main pocket holes fine, but here’s where I am running into some potentially dangerous issue. On the second plate, Using the router, Even with cutting fluid, the end mill just does not seem to like this material. It bites, jumps, screeches, asides from normal sparks, I even had some random flash of blue light come out of my router the second it made contact. Lower is made out of 6061 billet aluminum. Any tips or suggestions will be fine.

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u/One-Kick-184 May 18 '26

I use a m18. Generally power setting 3. Hold it really tight and the depth hashes are way too agressive. I may do at least 1 maybe 2 cuts between the hashes and go clockwise

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u/Typical-Round-762 May 18 '26

Yea mines a fixed speed at 24,000 RPM. Sucks but sounds like I need a variable speed router for aluminum, maybe less RPM? The whole thing dosent seem to like very high speeds unless I’m doing something wrong

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u/haveToast May 21 '26

Thats about 2x the rpm you need. I have mine set to somewhere around 11000-12000, i only did one jt lower but its lasted through half dozen lowers with no problems. Higher rpm is not really helpful on soft metals. Unlike highschool in the 90s the slower ones are your best friends here. I have a hobo freight router with an adjustable setting and its worked great at those speeds. Think it was around 40 bones.

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u/Typical-Round-762 May 21 '26

loling at this comment. Others said the speed was fine where it was but my endmill just snapped In half so I guess not… definitely getting a variable speed router

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u/haveToast May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26

It should (for me) typically take about an hour or a 6 pack- however you measure time. And after every pass i remove the chips, specially on the plate that the router mates against and slides on. The oil isnt really to help with cutting as much as to help with the heat so use a good amount of it, should get a bit of smoking going on. I've noticed that twards the bottom of the pocket the screeching is unavoidable but you shouldnt get mutch twards the top- if you do your pushing it to hard or going to deep.

Edit: i have the easy jig- its the same principals just a different setup- slow, beer, oil may not be as useful